U.S. New Home Sales and Prices Increaseby Tom Moeller December 23, 2016

Sales of new single-family homes during November increased
5.2% (16.5% y/y) to 592,000 (SAAR) from an unrevised 563,000 during October.
Sales of 575,000 had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey.

The median price of a new home improved 0.9% (-3.7% y/y)
to $305,400 from $302,700 during October, revised from $304,500. The
average price of a new home increased 1.5% (-4.5% y/y) to $359,900 following a
4.3% decline.

Last month's rise in new home sales was led by a 43.8% jump (39.4%
y/y) in sales in the Midwest to 92,000. In the West, sales rose 7.7% (10.8% y/y)
to 154,000. To the downside were sales in the South, falling by 3.1% (+13.4%
y/y) to 313,000. Sales in the Northeast remained steady at 33,000 (22.2% y/y).

The months' supply of homes at the current sales rate eased
to 5.1, but remained up from July's 4.6 rate. That was below the high of 5.8
months in September of last year. The median number of months a new home was on
the market increased slightly to 3.2 (NSA), but was down from 4.1 months in April.

The data in this report are available in Haver's USECON
database. The consensus expectation figure from the Action Economics Forecast
Survey is available in the AS1REPNA database.